Obama to Netanyahu, 2014: Don't go into Gaza

Israeli PM reveals former President Obama told him explicitly not to send ground forces into Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.

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Hezki Baruch, 19/04/17 14:50

Binyamin Netanyahu

Miriam Alster, Flash 90

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu revealed in a Knesset committee meeting that former US President Barack Obama requested Israel not send ground forces into Gaza during 2014's Operation Protective Edge.

The meeting's purpose was to critique how Israel fought Operation Protective Edge, and use that to see how to make the progress of the next war against Hamas, if needed, better.

Netanyahu related, "I explained to President Obama that if they continue not accepting the ceasefires, we will have no choice but to send in ground forces."

"He told me, 'I am asking you not to send in ground forces.' And I said, 'I will do my best not to send them in, but if this continues, and the tunnels [dug from Gaza into Israel] continue to threaten us, we will have no choice but to go in.'

"We tried our best to avoid a war in the south. We are facing a very cruel and difficult enemy.

"We wanted to destroy Hamas' infrastructure in Judea and Samaria. This created instability in Gaza, and Hamas prepared plans to deal with it.

"My goal was to avoid war as much as possible. If we needed to go to war, we wanted to pay the minimum price required. And when I say 'price,' I mean every family's individual price, an entire world. I know the pain of war. We have an obligation to ensure the price of war is as low as possible."